Jury Thoughts

Jury Selection. Lawyers refer to jury selection as voir dire which is a Latin term for speak the truth. The problem with the term voir dire is most jurors likely have no idea what the lawyer is talking about when the term voir dire is used. To jurors what is happening is “jury selection.” When the lawyer says “voir dire” jurors hear “lawyer speak language” from a person acting like a lawyer. This separates the speaker from the jurors who do not talk in “lawyer speak.”

Being a Lawyer. At Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College we immediately learn “we have a problem.” The problem is we are lawyers, and in our jury trials it is generally the case that our jurors are not lawyers. Our jury is a “tribe,” and the tribe is looking for a leader. The leader is potentially one of the competing lawyers. And the leader is “the voice of the tribe.” The voice of the tribe will likely be a voice similar to the other tribal members.When we address the tribe in “lawyerese,” speaking like a lawyer, we speak in a foreign voice with a foreign presence. So our first job is to speak like a “real person”and conduct ourself like a “real person.”

Being Real. As we learn in The Velveteen Rabbit:

When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt,.. . It dosen’t happen all at once,… you become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen to [lawyers] who break easily, or who have sharp edges, or have to be carefully kept. Generally by the time you are Real [appearance is secondary]. But [fancy appearance] doesn’t matter, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.

Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit.

When we are real and speak in the tribe’s language we can’t be ugly to the tribe because the tribe understands.